Car hits woman after Comic-Con zombie march

DOWNTOWN SAN DIEGO  A woman was injured after a car drove through a Comic-Con crowd that gathered to watch a zombie-themed march downtown Saturday afternoon, authorities said.

Members of the crowd chased the car until the driver saw a police officer and stopped, Officer David Stafford said.

Crash injures woman after zombie walk

Accounts varied on what prompted the incident.

Police said that about 5:30 p.m., a couple and their children, who all are deaf, were stopped at Second and Island avenues as an annual zombie march through downtown went past their car. They waited several minutes, then the driver, 48, started rolling forward slowly. His children were afraid of the large crowd, Stafford said.

Several pedestrians surrounded the sedan and started punching it while others climbed on it, police said. The windshield was shattered.

“The family was scared so the father drove forward again trying to get away from the angry crowd,” Stafford said.

Then the car knocked down a 64-year-old woman, who fell under the car and suffered a badly broken arm. The crowd chased the car down the street, and the driver pulled over when he saw a police officer, Stafford said.

Lt. Marshall White, in charge of special events, said Zombie Walk: San Diego — which is not a Comic-Con sanctioned event — was blocks away by the time the incident happened, but a crowd was likely still milling around behind it.

One witness said the driver was at fault for pushing his car into the crowd. Sean Foley told U-T San Diego in an email that he was five to 10 feet away when the driver started honking his horn and inching forward after waiting about 10 minutes. Then the driver accelerated, and some pedestrians stood in front of the car and yelled at the driver to stop, Foley said. At least one person sat on the car’s hood. He said the driver “floored his car” into the crowd. That’s when the windshield broke, Foley said.

Police Lt. Paul Rorrison said the driver was taken to police headquarters for questioning, in part to get him away from the crowd. Police said Sunday the driver was not arrested in connection with the incident.